


Counting Up

by ambiguously



Category: Star Wars: Rebels, The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Extra Treat, F/F, Flirting, Meet-Cute, past Sabine/Ketsu
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-13
Updated: 2020-12-13
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:54:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27661658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ambiguously/pseuds/ambiguously
Summary: Sabine and Cara get sent on a mission together, and they both have the same thing in mind.
Relationships: Cara Dune/Sabine Wren
Comments: 6
Kudos: 16
Collections: Star Wars Rare Pairs 2020





	Counting Up

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Rivulet027](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rivulet027/gifts).



"I need a favor."

Sabine made a wry smile at the hologram. Most people would start with a greeting, even a brief patter of small talk. She'd met too many people who would lead in with the small talk and fake interest in her life before launching into what they needed. She could name a couple of Rebels she'd started avoiding due to that pattern.

Hera wasn't like that. She was interested in Sabine's life and how she was faring, but they could chat later. Sabine appreciated the honesty. She replied in kind: "I'm not babysitting."

The expression on Hera's face shifted from serious to warm and amused. "I wouldn't ask. I need someone for an infiltration, and you're the best candidate."

Sabine considered her updated Wanted posters spread around the galaxy. The Empire knew her face. "You're sure?"

"Positive." Hera gave her the mission specifics, and Sabine understood the reasoning. There was a contact ready to hand them vital information, but they'd have to go to Sundari itself, and the intel would be in Mando'a. They wouldn't be able to leave with a copy. She'd have to read it and bring the information back herself.

She had to ask. "Did you already ask Ketsu?"

"She's away on another mission."

"Understood." From the day they'd met, they had alternated between periods of passionate involvement and prickly ex-relationship. This was one of the latter times, and Sabine had been considering contacting her and working on getting back into one of the former. They were two positively-charged wires, sparking off one another when they got too close. Sabine didn't miss their fights but she could do with some passion in her life.

"I've got a pilot on the way to Lothal with a ship."

"You didn't know I would say yes," Sabine said, a little irritated. But only a little.

"I had high hopes." There was that amusement again, and affection. Now that the mission was settled, they did turn to conversation. Yes, everything was stable here. No, neither of them had found the least trace of Ezra coming back. Hera filled her in on their friends' lives. "It'll be nice to see you when you get back with the intel."

"Yeah. How big is Jacen now?"

"Huge. You won't recognize him," she said about a child with hair color even brighter than Sabine's current shade.

"Can't wait. I'll see you soon."

She could wait, though. The protection of Lothal had been her primary duty for over two years. She took the occasional mission from the Rebellion, and visited infrequently, but she always hurried back here. The Empire could return any day, although as the days went on, it seemed they had bigger considerations than one backwater Outer Rim planet. That wasn't the point. Ezra was counting on her to keep Lothal safe until he got back, and of all the things he'd wanted from her that she wasn't interested in returning, this was one thing she could do. She'd go, get this done, and return as fast as she could.

Infiltration. Her armor was due for a repaint anyway. She got out some blue and gray and white and went to work. By the time her ride landed, Sabine's armor looked like she came from a bland clan from the inner colonies, unremarkable and easy to ignore. She packed a pouch at her belt with a couple of trinkets she'd found since her last visit to the _Ghost_ : a neat set of micro tools for Hera, a few pieces of sweetrock for Zeb, and a new toy for Jacen. She was ready.

She met the ship at the spaceport. Hera had sent the _Nightbrother_ to help them blend in, and Sabine's heart gave a quick, hard tug. She had her own issues with Maul, generational grievances passed down from her parents, but not half as strong as how she'd felt after all the hell he'd put her second family through. The price of this ship had been high, and the sight of the Gauntlet was filled with bittersweet memories of when they'd all been together.

Her inner eye looking on happy, lost sights, she didn't immediately notice her pilot disembarking. "You've got to be my contact," she said, drawing Sabine back to the present.

"That's me," said Sabine. "You have our coordinates?"

"Already set. Do you have everything?" The pilot, a stocky human woman about Sabine's age, gave her a glance over.

Sabine patted her blaster with one hand and gestured at the helmet tucked under her other arm. "I've got everything I need." 

"Then let's go." She turned on one foot, and Sabine got a flattering view of her back side as she followed. The woman appeared to be made of muscle and attitude, two attributes Sabine had always appreciated. "Call me Cara," she said over her shoulder.

"Sabine."

"The General told me about you." They boarded together. "You two know each other long?"

"Long enough," Sabine said, taking a seat.

Cara turned to the controls. For a moment, Sabine swore she saw a fleeting disappointment cross her face. She was very good-looking, Sabine couldn't help but notice. Her uniform hid rather than suggested, leading Sabine to idly speculate what kind of curves she was minimizing under there.

Right, she told herself. It had been a long time since she'd dated anyone, and she'd been thinking about Ketsu, which always put her in a certain mood. Time to focus on the mission at hand.

Still. "Hera and her team picked me up when I was a kid out on my own. She's practically a second mother to me." She watched Cara, and saw the lines in her face relax. She hadn't imagined that then. Maybe she wasn't the only one who'd gone without for a long time.

"Good to know." She lifted off, and headed out of atmosphere. "Did 'Mom' brief you on the mission?"

"The basic details. We're meeting the contact, I'm reading the details, I'm bringing them back to wherever the base is this week."

"Got it in one." Cara activated the hyperdrive, and Sabine took in a quick breath. Each ship had a slightly different drive, some well-maintained and slick, some rickety and threatening to knock the ship to pieces as they crossed the boundary into hyperspace. The _Nightbrother_ was good Mandalorian technology with a powerful hyperdrive, soaring into flight like the huge birds that once dominated the skies of Mandalore before the wars.

Cara spun her seat to face her. "So are you an actual Mando or did you buy that outfit somewhere?"

Sabine prickled. "The beskar has been in my family for generations. I forged this armor with my mother."

"Real mom or General Mom?"

"Real," she said, and saw the smirk peeking on Cara's lips, and understood she was being teased. She reached for a tease of her own. "Are those tattoos a count of the times you've gotten thrown out of cantinas?"

"Hey, I have never been thrown out of a cantina. I have always stumbled out on my own power." She rubbed a thumb over the tattoos on her solid-looking bicep. "I could tell you they track all my successful missions, or I could tell you they track the pretty women I've dated."

All right, no question she was interested, and by the nav computer data, they had a long ride ahead of them. It had been a really long time.

Sabine leaned closer. "Where do you keep the tattoos counting the not so pretty ones?"

Cara's smirk filled her face. "How about I show you?"


End file.
